I've had acne for over a decade. When I was 19, my skin cleared up and I stopped using acne products altogether. Then I got my nexplanon put in and all hell broke loose on my face. I got the worst acne of my life and even started getting occasional cystic acne (which I had never had before). That's when I made my first derm appointment and he prescribed me a combination of 100mg spironolactone, aczone, and ovace lotion. I started all three at the same time, so I can't tell you which caused it, but my face immediately ceased 80% of its oil production. The only side effect was that I noticed that I got light headed a little easier when I stood up, but that's it. For the first month, I broke out terribly and officially had the worst acne of my life since I had my nexplanon inserted. It wasn't until I was on spironolactone for about a month and a week that I noticed any changes in my acne. Instead of having 20-30 pimples on my face at all times, I had 4 or 5. I'm still only about a month and a half into this, and I see my acne disappearing more and more each day. I am so happy with the results. My suggestion is to STICK WITH IT because it took a while for it to work for me and much longer for other people. In fact, it seems like it worked unusually fast for me.

Before I started taking this medication, I had severe cystic acne for 6 years. I would stay home from school because I felt ugly and I was in constant pain. 3 months after I started taking spironolactone, my entire life changed. My skin has been clear ever since. I've been taking this medicine for 2 years now, and it's helped me tremendously. If you want to take it, get ready to drink lots of water!

Hi all, Let me start from the very beginning - I used to have good skin, only a few spots here and there, but being 16 I was very fussy and self conscious and wanted perfect skin. I went to the doctors and they put me on dianette (a strong birth control pill) which made my skin beautiful but also made me VERY fat. I stayed on for about 6 months and not being able to tolerate the weight, I came off and ended up getting the worst acne of my life. I tried to treat it naturally but nothing was working, so after a year of bad acne I went on the Yasmin pill, and started low dose spirinolactone too (this being self medicated as my doc would not prescribe it.) this combo worked perfectly, and my skin was as clear as ever and I never ever got any breakout no matter what I ate or what skin products I did or didn't use. After a few years on this combo, and suspecting Yasmin for causing my hair loss and flat, emotionless state and spironolactone for bad side effects, I weaned myself off of both meds and used Angus castus and Spearmint capsules and tea to balance my hormones and skin. This worked ok and my skin did well for about 2 years, and I managed to lose all the weight, however this dramatic weight loss triggered another breakout which kept getting worse and worse. I tried for 6 months to increase spearmint etc tried all different skin products but nothing was helping, in fact everything I did or used seemed to make my skin even WORSE. I had enough and started to self medicate spironolactone again, starting July 11th 2017 at a dose of 50mg. I slowly increased my dosage to 150 mg, and throughout this stage my skin was at it's worse ever, as you all probably know by now, it definitely gets a lot worse before it gets any better. My skin started to improve around the 3 months mark, by which this stage I had increased my dosage to 150mg in the morning (before 3pm is more effective as this is when androgens are at their highest) WITH food, and 50mg at night time with a snack. Taking it with food is very important. I also did a hell of a lot of research and at 200 mg the side effects were quite severe but it was the dosage that worked best for my skin, so I kept reading up on different things to alleviate this. What I found is that LICORICE ROOT (I take the Swanson Licorice root capsules - 2 with my 150mg morning dosage) works synergistically with spironolactone as Licorice root increase blood pressure and lowers potassium - where as spiro decreases blood pressure and increases potassium. So taking the Licorice root with the spironolactone ensures a good balance where blood pressure is not lowered so much, and potassium levels are not increased so much, every thing is balanced perfectly and it reduces the side effects to ZERO for me. I went from taking 200 mg and having bad heacahes, bad dizziness, non stop pissing, palpitations, to being able to take my dosage with none of those side effects and feeling great and healthy with CLEAR skin all by adding LICORICE ROOT to my regime. Try it! Ps it has now been just over 4 months of being on 200mg with the Licorice and my skin is 95% clear, I maybe get one tiny spot every week that you can't see only feel, I only have marks left from the old acne and even that is fading from doing lactic acid peels and using oils. I am positive my skin will be 100% clear and free of marks very soon, and imagine I went from getting 3-4 new cystic acne every day. Try it!!

This drug takes a while to have an impact. I kid you not, I read literally every review left on this site for spiro while waiting for what others referred to as heaven sent results. And I am so glad I stuck it out. My skin was really clear until around 17 and then it slowly got bad. It was deep, cystic, inflamed, and I had the terrible habit of picking combined with anxiety. I hated my face and I have many deep scars from picking at acne. Nothing really worked for the deep stuff but I did eventually find a routine that worked well for surface acne. Then I got pregnant at 30 and my skin completely cleared. I glowed, it was unbelievable how much of an impact clear skin had on my self worth. I joked I would have had kids a decade earlier if I knew it would give me clear skin! I nursed for almost two years and by the end of it was starting to have more breakouts when I got pregnant again. My skin went back to amazing and again there was a slow reemergence of acne but this time I went to the dermatologist as I was insured for the first time in my life. I then was using Aczone twice a day because I was nursing and told when I stopped we could try oral medications. The medication helped with the surface acne but the deep stuff was slowly returning and when I weaned I started taking Spiro. I started at 25mg twice a day for 2.5 months. I lost a few pounds of water weight, looked a bit leaner, and had to pee quite often as well as drink more fluids. I had a few moments of light headed ness, and had heavy breakouts around the second to fourth week and consistently broke out. My husband said 'why bother' quite often when it wasn't working after a month which was super discouraging. I kept reading all the reviews on this site every night and took my pills regularly. Eventually the acne got worse as the surface kind returned. After 2.5 months I went back desperate for a higher dose. The dermatologist switched me to a topical clindamyacin (sp?) and increased the dose to 50mg twice a day. I had a heavier breakout after increasing disease but after about a month the surface acne had cleared and the deeper stuff was coming less often. After two months my skin was back to its glowing pregnancy state! Now I may get a blemish here or there before my period but it is small and quickly healed and gone. I'm so grateful my doctor recommended it to me, as I had never heard of it prior. Spiro has changed my life dramatically. No more hiding because I can't face the public, and I hardly ever use my makeup any more. I wish I found this before I ruined my skin with scars. It is cheap and heaven sent! My best advice is to start with a low dose, slowly increase and STICK IT OUT!

I can't believe it is finally time for me to write a positive review on this site. I've been following acne.org for years because I used to suffer from severe acne. I would have a new pimple everyday. I starte taking 100 mg/day of Spironolactone a few years ago and it significantly helped my acne. However, I should add that it does take MONTHS to kick in and you WILL have an initial breakout. When I first started, i had an initial breakout that led to my skin looking the worst it had ever looked. I was dating a guy at the time who literally told me "I can't be with you because you need to take care of yourself." However, after about 3 months, it did start to clear up a lot. It was never perfect though. It was hard for me to find a derm that would increase my dose to 200 mg/day even though I knew I needed it for clear skin. Finally, I saw an OB GYN this February and she put me on 200 mg/day. My skin cleared up INSTANTLY and has stayed that way since!! I can't believe it!! I used to have over 20 pimples on my face at a time and now (from the time I was 12 until 23). Now, I freak out even if I get one pimple!! I never thought I'd see the day! Moral of the story -- go on spironolactone and be patient because it will work. Also, depending on the severity of your skin, try getting on a higher dose because it make a dramatic difference!

I never write reviews and have been thinking about it for a long time as I've had amazing success so here it is! A little background: I am a 24 year old female and did not really struggle with acne in my teen years. When I was 22 I got off my oral birth control after being on it for 8 years. Within months my skin developed terrible and painful acne around my chin, cheeks and soemtomes jawline. I eat very healthy, work out daily, kept clean pillow cases - nothing worked. I was put on a 50mg dose of Spiro (way too low for my case) and did not see improvement much. 3 months later I was put on 100mg dose and saw about 70% improvement. 3 month later I was requested to go to 150mg. Within about 2 months I was completely clear. I have now slowly gone back down to 100mg and my results are still the same . In all, it took 8 months to reach 100% clear but I feel as if it would have been much quicker if I had stared at the 100mg dose. PLEASE NOTE: I also began using topical Adapalene Gel when I started Spiro which has likely contributed significantly my skin's recovery in combination with Spiro. Adapalene is a Vitamin A derivative (as Accutane is) and repairs your skin cells at an accelerated rate. Here is my current regime and I have been clear for about 8 months: Morning: - Gentle cleanser (I use Cetaphil) -Light face lotion ( I use Aveeno or Olay) - 50 mg of Spiro Night: - More intense cleanser ( I use Panoxyl 10% benzoyl peroxide) - Light face lotion - Adapalene Gel .1% thin layer - 50mg of Spiro

28 year old, female. I suffered from acne from the age of 15 and tried everything but nothing touched it. My acne would be mainly on my lower half of my face/jawline and it would be bright red painful cysts and spots. 2 years ago I started taking Spiro as a last attempt to clear my skin before my wedding day and I was amazed when it worked. It also worked fast and within the first few weeks I had no new spots forming. I am still taking it now and have completely clear skin which is less greasy. I recently took a few weeks break to see if I still needed it and my acne came straight back so I will be still taking it for a while yet. I am taking 50mg a day and have no bad side effects Definitely worth a try!

I take no other medications. And I frankly despise Big Pharma and taking medicine, period. But I caved after 11 years of chronic acne that NEVER dissipated. Only time it did (temporarily) was after going to the tanning bed daily, which obviously causes cancer, so it didn't last for me personally. Acne has always killed my self-esteem and I have never been able to target what the hell is wrong with my hormones/body/skin. Nothing helped -- literally tried nearly everything other than Acutane, which I couldn't give in to due to the horrendous side effects. But this stuff -- total lifesaver. No side effects whatsoever, that I'm aware of. Completely clear skin after 4-5 months of daily use (particularly my face --- just glows now). I have nothing bad to say so far. I suggest everyone suffering from chronic/hormonal acne give it a shot. Totally changed the way I feel about myself. Can't complain about that.

My dermatologist started me off with 25mg of the Spironolactone, and this was along the time-frame of me starting my birth control as well (Sprintec). I have PCOS and tend to have painful cystic acne on my jawline and cheeks. I clean my face twice a day, do spot treatments with benzoyl peroxide, or lavender oil. I exfoliate twice a week. I make sure to change out my pillow cases after 2 or 3 days. I feel like Spironolactone kind of boosts the process of clearing your skin. Already I can tell my skin is improving. The pimples I do get are not as painful, and clear up after a couple of days. I am now on 50mg after my 1 month check up. Drinking LOTS of water is imperative! Soon, I will just need to worry about clearing up my scars. I'm surprised that is coming up sooner that expected! I love this product. My goal is to not have to wear makeup someday :)

I'll start with my acne regimine. I wash my face twice a day with Cetaphil Acne Prone Skin foam wash, followed by Cetaphil Acne Prone Skin moisturizer. At night I take Spironolactone 100mg, and put a pea-sized amount of tretinoin 0.025% on the affected areas. Some mornings I'll use Dermalogica daily microfoliant to exfoliate, if needed. In the mornings I follow the moisturizer with SunBum zinc based facial sunscreen. The Cetaphil moisturizer does have 30spf sunscreen in it, but it does not contain zinc or titanium, which is incredibly important in protecting skin. Sticking to this routine has given me incredible results. I've struggled with adult acne for about a year and a half. It has always been hormonal acne on my jawline, usually cystic, but some whiteheads on my chin as well. It's taken 9 weeks for me to have smooth skin, but it's definitelty worth the wait! Now that the acne is gone I'm going to be working with the dermatologist to deal with the old acne scars, which have noticeably improved as well. I'm very excited to finally have clear skin again, especially before heading back to college at the end of August. Something else that's helped my acne a lot is switching to only drinking water. It's improved both my moods and my skin. I love spironolactone!